Legaren J. Hiller Jr.
I suspect my contribution to this volume should be limited to a few appreciative remarks regarding the music of Lucien Goethals. I had hoped to say more about it, but then it is rather difficult to do so without scores and other materials to work with. I am surprised to realize that il has already been some eight years since I first visited Ghent to see the electronic music studio there. During the course of an afternoon, we played a recording of ‘Cellotape’ and I was much struck by it, enough so that during the years since I have arranged on more than one occasion to have il performed back home in the United States. I myself am quite partial to music for chamber music combinations that involve the use of tape, having written several such pieces myself, so this work fitted in very nicely with the types of program we give. I think the best proof of admiration of a composition is the doing of something active about it. After considerable postal delays, some tapes of other compositions by Lucien Goethals reached me when I am living at the moment in Europe. This has permitted me to become acquainted with a broader spectrum of his music, for tape alone as well as with instruments and orchestra. It strikes me immediately that all these compositions demonstrate a consistent personal style and are the product of a forceful, imaginative musical personality. This applies to both the use of the electronic tape medium in itself and its integration with instrumental musical textures.